Rastrelli Cello Quartet

PROGRAMME:
David Popper
Tarantella

Pyotr Tchaikovsky
2^nd movement (Andante cantabile) from String Quartet No 1 in D Major, Op. 11

Sergei Prokofiev
Five highlights from the ballet Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64
Dance of the Knights
Juliet as a Young Girl
Dance of the Girls with Lilies
Masks
Mercutio

Giacomo Puccini
Cavaradossi’s aria “E lucevan le stelle” from Act III of the opera Tosca

Modest Musorgsky
Night on Bald Mountain

William Handy
Saint Louis Blues

Hoagy Carmichael
Stardust

Antônio Carlos Jobim
Samba de uma nota só

Astor Piazzolla
Milonga del angel

Bobby Timmons
Moanin’

Sergio Drabkin
Swing, Swing, Swing

Paul Desmond
Take Five

“Riveting... Very entertaining... Wild cheers... These four musicians could sound like a classical symphony one moment and play ragtime, jazz, klezmer or even a polka the next.”
The Barrie Examiner

“They are men on a mission. The Rastrelli Cello Quartet is out to cross all genres.”
Strings Magazine

“Rastrelli stands on the fundamentals of ensemble unity, responsiveness, virtuosity and spirited musicality.”
San Antonio Express-News

“The qualities of a devil of a cellist!”
Kieler Nachrichten

“Enthralling dynamism and technique, just splendid!”
Heilbronner Stimme

“Four Russian plethoric cellists...”
Frankfurter Rundschau

“It is not only the musicians of this quartet that are unique, but also their extreme aptitude, their unity and ability to fascinate the public.”
Neue Züricher Zeitung

The Rastrelli Cello Quartet is one of the most interesting and successful chamber ensembles on the contemporary music scene.
Despite the fact that the quartet is based in Germany, they are known in the music world as Russian musicians from St Petersburg. The architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, in whose honour the ensemble is named, is a symbol of St Petersburg.
The Rastrelli Cello Quartet has long been a "flagship" among cello ensembles to which many of young musicians aspire. Dazzling performances of the classics equal to those of the finest string quartets in the world, sparkling jazz improvisations, the unforgettable sound of the quartet’s leader Kira Kraftzoff, the virtuoso skill of Kirill Timofeev and Mikhail Degtjareff, their very own “Rastrelli sound” which has long been appellative and the subtle humour of arrangements by the internationally acclaimed Sergio Drabkin – these are the things that form the calling card of the ensemble.
The quartet was the first in the world to prove that a quartet of cellists performing classical music could win the hearts of the wider public. It transformed attitudes to an ensemble of cellists from a mere experiment and raised it to an entirely different level, demonstrating that any music may be performed on the cello.
This is confirmed by their millions of fans and followers.
Without any exaggeration, the Rastrelli Cello Quartet is known throughout the world as one of the finest Russian ensembles. The quartet has toured to more than thirty countries, travelling from Alaska to Australia. The ensemble has appeared at almost every important festival in Europe and performed over seven hundred concerts, some two hundred and fifty of them in the USA.
The musicians are on an unceasing musical search. They are broadening their own repertoire which covers every style – from the baroque to rock, in which there is not a single work composed for four cellos.
The ensemble also looks for possibilities to combine the sound of cellos with other instruments. The Rastrelli Cello Quartet performs programmes with symphony orchestras and appears with such international stars as Giora Feidman (clarinet) and Gilles Apap (violin), performing both Vivaldi’s and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons together with piano and violin and collaborating with renowned Russian rock and pop musicians such as Andrei Samsonov, Sergei Shnurov and Svetlana Surganova.